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FAN-TASTIC

Jorge Mendes arrives at a Madrid court for the trial of his client Rademel Falcao

Introducing Piet de Visser, the Dutch football scout who discovered Romario, Ronaldo and Neymar

Why are so many La Liga stars facing tax issues?

WHEN David Beckham joined Real Madrid in 2003, he became the pioneer of a new tax-exemption scheme Spain introduced in order to attract top foreign talents across all sectors.

It became known as the "Beckham Law" and the ex-England captain signed up to a six-year-long tax ceiling of 24 per cent — which was around half what was paid at the time on six-figure-plus incomes.

Spain was enjoying an incredible economic boom, and became the perfect place to attract "Galactico" players such as Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.

But the Beckham Law was scrapped in 2010 for annual salaries of over £530,000 (€600,000), and Spanish tax inspectors are now far more aware of complex financial operations involving offshore accounts to get around tax laws.